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Special Sections: January
2003 Jennings Versus Reality Despite polls indicating a substantial jump for the President’s Iraq policy after the State of the Union, Peter Jennings claimed “we found that people had not changed their minds in significant numbers.”
Networks Bring on Iraqi Officials & Dems to Discuss State of the Union
ABC’s Good Morning America interviewed Iraqi official Tariq Aziz, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle and former Clintonite turned ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos. NBC’s
Today included a sound bite from a “typical” Iraqi who told President Bush to “keep his nose out of our…affairs.”
Bush as “Sadistic Murderer” MSNBC’s Chris Matthews scolded Bush for suggesting terrorists have been hunted down and murdered. “I’m afraid that’s the President at his least attractive,” he claimed.
ABC’s Post-State of the Union Features Iraqi Talking Points President Bush’s claims that the Iraqis are not cooperating with inspectors would be easily dismissed, ABC’s Dan Harris reported from Baghdad. Inspectors, Harris said, had been in Iraq “for more than 60 days and so far have found nothing.”
CBS Hypes Kennedy’s Opposition
CBS’s Bob Schieffer treated Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy’s opposition to President Bush’s Iraq policy as news. Schieffer repeated Kennedy’s claim that Bush had a “go it alone foreign policy.”
Jennings Stresses "More Time", Brokaw and Rather Don't Peter Jennings led his newscast with "the inspectors want more time to do their job." Both CBS and NBC led their programs with the fact that Iraq has failed to comply with the United Nations resolution.
Thomas Attacks Again Hearst Newspapers' Helen Thomas delivered yet another partisan rant against the Bush administration in the form of a press conference question. "Who in this country, besides the President and his courtiers, want to go to war with Iraq?" she demanded of press secretary Air Fleischer.
Jennings: U.S. Too Aggressive Peter Jennings, on the road in Amman, Jordan, said there “are a lot of people who think the Bush administration is being too aggressive about Iraq.” Jennings then added that the King of Jordan thinks the Iraqi people fear Saddam Hussein more than Bush.
Rather: The Iraqis Will Fight to the Death Maybe. The CBS anchor delivered a report from Baghdad in which several Iraqis, including a college professor and a government official, claimed they would fight to the end. Occasionally, Rather noted that Iraqis are “restricted in what they can say publicly.”
NBC: Staged Anti-U.S. Events are “Real” News NBC reported that anti-U.S. protests by “tourists” have become a “near daily ritual” and that an Iraqi chicken farmer is threatening to sue the United Nations.
Good Point During MSNBC’s Hardball, Retired U.S. Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey took Peter Arnett to task for his milk factory reporting in 1991. “That was a biological weapons site also,” McCaffrey claimed. When Arnett suggested, “we pass that one by,” McCaffrey noted that the U.S. found tons of chemical weapons in Iraq after the 1991 war.
Jennings Delivers Saddam Spin From Baghdad
Peter Jennings noted that artists and writers were thanking Saddam Hussein for their latest monthly stipend. Jennings also thought the dictator would be encouraged by violence against Americans in Kuwait.
More Saddam Spin: He’s a Sound Sleeper
Jennings dutifully relayed Iraqi propaganda. Saddam goes out the second his head hits the pillow. “Unlike some officials in other governments,” the ABC anchor said.
Those Protesters Were So Creative! The Washington Post style reporter Hank Stuever just adored the Washington, D.C. peace protestors. “Blessed are the people who make great signs,” Stuever wrote. Among the most blessed, in his opinion, were those holding a sign calling Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld “The Asses of Evil” and another group who’s sign claimed Fox News is a Nazi stronghold.
Why Didn’t the Networks Show This? A National Review Online article from Daniel Flynn described the rampant anti-Americanism he saw at the “peace” protests.
Because They “Overlook” Liberal Crazies Former CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg, in an appearance on Fox News
Hannity & Colmes, noted: “If there’s a demonstration with a lot of liberals in it, against the war, they’re going to minimize the craziest of the liberals.”
CBS Paints Protestors as American Cross-Section CBS joined the list of networks that appeared intent on whitewashing the “peace” marchers. Correspondent John Blackstone noted the San Francisco crowd “seemed to span the generations” and reminded one old protestor of “the anti-war movement’s glory days.”
Poor Little Peace Protestors
Are bound to “feel the hot breath of the patriotism police,” according to MSNBC’s Brian Williams.
Just Normal Folks
According to media reports, the protest crowd in Washington, D.C. was composed of grandparents, soccer moms, Republicans, students and businessmen.
Media Ignore Radical Organizing Group
The Washington protest was organized by the group ANSWER (Act Now To Stop War and Racism) and the media provided practically no background on the group. On its web site, ANSWER demands the immediate disarmament of the U.S. and calls for a "people's inspection team." Coalition members include notbable anti-Americans such as Ramsey Clark, Cynthia McKinney and Jessica Lange.
Newspapers Ignore Radical Speeches and Comments
The Washington Post and New York Times covered the protests but ignored the radical speeches and rhetoric.
ABC's Terry Moran described how a Syrian anti-war protest tied up traffic in Damascus but didn't bother to mention that a portion of the crowed was hardly anti-war. "Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," some shouted.
World News Tonight Showcases Anti-Bush Daisy Ad
An anti-Gore Daisy ad was fretted over when it briefly ran in the 2000 campaign. An anti-Bush Daisy ad from an anti-war group, however, has caused ABC to marvel at how protesters have "gone from the streets to the information highway."
Anti-Gore Ad Was "Nasty", Anti-Bush Ad "New"
ABC's Good Morning America condemned the anti-Gore ad in 2000 as campaign vitriol. The anti-Bush ad received no such condemnation. Diane Sawyer simply announced that Americans would see a "new" ad based on the "famous anti-war ad from the '60s."
ABC & CBS Cite Drop in Polls; Fox Says It's Holding Steady
Polls, polls and more polls. Polls show a large majority of Americans favor using military force to remove Saddam Hussein but ABC and CBS claimed their polls indicated a drop in support for Bush's Iraq policy while a Fox News poll showed support holding even.
Anti-War Ad Links Bush to Nuclear War...
...And the CBS News staff didn't find a thing wrong with it. Last night's
Evening News showcased an anti-war ad that suggested the Bush foreign policy would lead to nuclear war. CBS offered not a hint of condemnation.
OK, How About Some "Other" Voices?
The January 12 World News Tonight showcased war protesters again, including a Columbia University professor who claimed "mainstream America" believes the war doesn't make sense. The story came three months after Peter Jennings promised to highlight "other voices" on the Iraq issue. That day's segment featured nine war opponents and not a single supporter of military action against Saddam Hussein.
Networks Highlight Lack of “Smoking Gun” UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix announced his group had yet to find “a smoking gun” linking Iraq to weapons of mass destruction. The networks wondered how the Bush administration could contemplate war without such evidence from the UN.
Bush Scares North Korea, CBS Says So CBS correspondent Barry Petersen was so certain of the answers that he finished sentences for a South Korean presidential adviser in a recent interview. When the adviser noted that the North Koreans “have to not feel threatened by any country” Petersen interjected “or George Bush.” “You said it, I didn’t,” the Korean responded.
North Korea’s Kim Jong Il “Perfectly Rational” Before Bush
ABC’s Mark Litke suggested that Kim Jong Il, a brutal dictator who has starved his own people, was doing well until President Bush included North Korea in the “axis of evil.” He quoted former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, who said Kim was “perfectly rational” when she met with him in the 1990s.
Helen’s Latest Harangue At the first White House press conference of the year, supposedly objective correspondent Helen Thomas of Hearst Newspapers demanded to know why the U.S. wants “to drop bombs on innocent Iraqis.” Thomas also complained that “many countries” don’t have any influence on U.S. policy.
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